1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant restraint system in which a side airbag is disposed in a folded state along an upper edge of a door opening of a vehicle body, and the airbag is inflatable by a gas generated by an inflator when the vehicle is involved in a collision. Upon activation, the side airbag is deployed in a curtain shape along the inner face of a side of an occupant compartment.
2. The Relevant Art
Conventionally, such an occupant restraint system is known in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 2000-33847 and 11-235965. It is also known that, in order to absorb the impact of a secondary collision of an occupant against a roof side rail when the vehicle is involved in a light collision where the airbag of the occupant restraint system does not deploy, an impact absorbing member is disposed along an upper part of the folded airbag.
When the folded airbag deploys downward from the roof side rail, the airbag can deploy smoothly along the door glass of a front door and the door glass of a rear door. However, since a center pillar projects inwardly beyond the inner face of the door glass of the occupant compartment, there is a possibility that the airbag might catch on the upper end of a pillar garnish of the center pillar, thereby preventing smooth deployment of the airbag.
The present invention has been carried out in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to prevent a deploying airbag from catching on the upper end of a pillar garnish by employing an impact absorbing member disposed along the folded airbag.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a first aspect of the present invention proposes an occupant restraint system that includes an airbag that is disposed in a folded state along an upper edge of a door opening of a vehicle body, and an inflator that is operable to generate a gas when the vehicle is involved in a collision. When activated, the gas inflates the airbag so that it is deployed in a curtain shape along the inner face of a side of an occupant compartment. In the practice of the present invention, an impact absorbing member is disposed along the folded airbag, and the impact absorbing member is disposed at a lower part of the airbag in the vicinity of the pillar garnish of at least one pillar.
In accordance with the above-mentioned arrangement, the impact absorbing members disposed at an upper part of and at the lower part of the folded airbag can help protect the head of an occupant from the impact of a secondary collision, when the vehicle is involved in a light collision where the airbag does not deploy. Furthermore, since the impact absorbing member is disposed at the lower part of the airbag in the vicinity of the pillar garnish, it is possible to ensure that there is a distance between the airbag and the upper end of the pillar garnish. This arrangement makes it difficult for the deploying airbag to catch on the upper end of the pillar garnish and, moreover, the impact absorbing member can guide the deploying airbag toward the occupant compartment, thereby more reliably preventing the airbag from catching on the upper end of the pillar garnish.
The pillar of the present invention corresponds to a center pillar 12 in an embodiment, and the pillar garnish of the present invention corresponds to a center pillar garnish 53 in the embodiment.
Modes for carrying out the present invention are explained below by reference to an embodiment of the present invention shown in the attached drawings.